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For my current vita, click here. Here are some recent abstracts (if the paper is not linked, contact me for copies of the paper): Gender Inequality in Interaction - An Evolutionary Account -Hopcroft, Rosemary L. Forthcoming in Social Forces Abstract: In this paper I argue that evolutionary theorizing can help sociologists and feminists better understand gender inequality. Evolutionary theory explains why control of the sexuality of young women is a priority across most human societies both past and present. Evolutionary psychology has extended our understanding of male violence against women. Here I add to these theories and present a sexual selection argument to postulate possible evolved predispositions that produce young female deference to adult males in interaction and the converse, lack of male deference to young females. According to this argument, the pattern of greater female deference disappears when the women involved are past menopause. Put together, these ideas form an evolutionary account of gender inequality that complements and extends traditional sociological and feminist theories. The Evolved Actor in Sociology - Hopcroft, Rosemary L. Forthcoming in Sociological Theory Abstract: In this paper I show that principles from both evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology inform a model of the actor that is usually implicit in sociological research on marriage and the family and social stratification. Making this evolved actor model explicit can unify and explain existing empirical sociological findings in these areas, and suggest new hypotheses for future research. I suggest the same is true in many other areas of sociology as well, and that explicitly incorporating a fully developed evolved actor model into sociology can both unify the discipline and reconnect it with the other life sciences. The sex difference in depression across 29 countries - Hopcroft, Rosemary L. and Dana Burr Bradley. (Published in Social Forces 2007 85, 4: 1483-1507.) ) Abstract: The sex difference in depression is well documented in westernized, developed societies, although there has been little quantitative cross-cultural research on the topic. In this study, we use multilevel logit models to examine sex differences in depression across 29 countries using data from the World Values Survey. We find that in no country are males more likely to be depressed than females. We also find that while levels of depression are higher in low gender equity countries, the gender gap in depression is larger in high gender equity countries. Sex, status and reproductive success in the contemporary U.S. (Published in Evolution and Human Behavior 2006 27: 104-120.) Abstract: This paper reexamines the relationship between status and reproductive success (at the ultimate and proximate levels) using data on sex frequency and number of biological children from representative samples of the U.S. population. An ordered probit analysis of data from the 1989-2000 General Social Survey (GSS) shows that high income men report greater frequency of sex than all others. An OLS regression of data from the 1994 GSS shows that high income men have more biological children than low income men and high income women. Further, more educated men have more biological children than more educated women. Results also show that intelligence decreases the number of offspring and frequency of sex for both men and women. Status Characteristics Among Older Individuals: The Diminished Significance of Gender (published in Sociological Quarterly 2006 47: 361-374) Abstract: Previous theory and experimental research suggest that gender operates as a status characteristic in social interaction. Here I test an alternative hypothesis based on evolutionary psychology that gender may not work as a status characteristic when individuals are older (aged over 50). In an experimental study, pairs of subjects (young men with young women, older men with older women) were asked to make a series of decisions about a gender-neutral, perceptual task with input from their partners. I find that while gender operated as a status characteristic for younger individuals, it did not operate as a status characteristic for older individuals. In addition, older individuals were more resistant to influence on average than younger individuals. Parental status and differential investment in sons and daughters: Trivers-Willard revisited (published in Social Forces 2005 83 (3): 169-193.) Abstract: According to the Trivers-Willard (T-W) hypothesis there is an interaction between individual status and investment in offspring such that high status individuals invest more in boys, and low status individuals invest more in girls. Parental investment may be both physiological and affect the sex ratio of offspring; or psychological and affect resource allocation to offspring. I test both components of the hypothesis using cumulative GSS data and find results that support T-W. Using years of education attained as an indirect measure of parental investment, I find that sons of high status fathers attain more education than daughters, and the daughters of low status fathers attain more education than sons. Supporting the sex ratio component of T-W I find that high status men have more sons. The Evolution of Sex Discrimination (published in Psychology, Evolution and Gender April 2002 4.1:43-67.) Abstract: In this paper, I use evolutionary psychology to develop a new theory of sex discrimination. This theory suggests that a cognitive bias toward low task-related self esteem in young women when comparing themselves to men, and for high task-related self esteem in men when comparing themselves to young women, may have evolved as it was in the reproductive interests of both males and females. Low task-related self esteem vis-à-vis males may have been adaptive for young females in the evolutionary environment because it advertised both youth and future controllability, features highly attractive to prospective mates. High task-related self esteem vis-à-vis young females may have been adaptive for males because it advertised capabilities as providers and protectors, also features attractive to mates. Both biases are predicted to end for females beyond the reproductive years. Predictions from this theory are tested and supported with data from 29 countries, including the U.S.
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